henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (02/22/88)
NASA's Advanced Communications Technology satellite is having serious cost
overruns.
Soviet cosmonauts aboard Mir are expected to demonstrate a manned
maneuvering unit this year.
Australia signs space-cooperation agreement with USSR.
AW&ST advance scoop on Reagan's new space policy changes Reagan's plans to
announce it in his State of the Union address.
New space policy stresses government use of commercial services rather than
doing the work itself (for civil spaceflight, that is), endorses use of
government contracts to guarantee a market for commercial space services,
and incidentally removes resolution limits from commercial remote-sensing
satellites.
JPL presents Mars lander concept using a cruise-missile guidance system,
programmed with landing-site terrain data obtained by an orbiter, to
permit a pinpoint landing.
NASA considers system changes to space station to cut costs. Most
potential changes were rejected on grounds that they would yield much
higher operating costs. One still under consideration is deferring the
mobile base for the Canadian arm, meaning that the arm would have to
handle its own movement -- the so-called "inchworm" concept that was
rejected earlier. This is politically touchy since Canada is the only
firm international partner so far, and will have to approve. Karl
Doetsch, Canadian space-station-program manager, says he doesn't think
eliminating the transporter is a good idea, but there is time to review
the idea again. Another idea being thought about is starting with a
hydrazine propulsion system rather than the waste-water-electrolysis
oxyhydrogen system currently planned. The trouble is, the waste water
still has go somewhere, and lifting considerable amounts of hydrazine
to the station will increase demands on the already-strained supply
system. One idea that was rejected was shortening or getting rid of
the truss structure; it doesn't cost very much. One thing that may be
added is a substantial number of small "resource ports" providing power
and data hookup; they would be necessary for an "inchworm" arm and
could also hold small payloads.
Attitude control lost on French Telecom 1B comsat due to system failures.
Its workload has been transferred to Telecom 1A. The design of 1C, due
for launch in March, is being reviewed. European aerospace contractors
are unhappy: "Here we are trying to prove that we are viable competitors
in two important international bids [Aussat + Intelsat 7], and two of our
spacecraft [the other being TVSat 1] come up with major in-orbit problems.
The timing simply couldn't be worse."
SDI begins parcelling out funding cuts to its programs. At least two of
its space-based projects may die or be put on hold.
Japan boosts space budget 15% in FY88.
Japan postpones next H-1 launch a few weeks due to problems in the
comsat payload.
France postpones launch of TDF-1 direct broadcast satellite, opening an
Ariane payload slot which will probably be filled by Insat 1C and
Europe's ECS-5, to modify its solar panels against a recurrence of the
problems with TVSat 1 (which used the same panel design).
NRC says that NASA has been so preoccupied with short-term goals that its
technology base is in dismal shape, recommends major increases in funding
for technology research. "For the past 15 years less than 3% of the total
NASA budget has been invested in space research and technology. Of that
virtually none has been spent on technology development for missions more
than five years in the future." NRC says current initiatives toward more
technology work are good but insufficient. Propulsion is cited as a
particular disaster area, especially since much information from earlier
programs is being lost as people retire. Manned spaceflight is number
two needing attention, notably long-term effects of spaceflight, closed-
cycle life-support, and better EVA technology.
ESA proposes Navsat: an international civilian system to supplement
Navstar and eventually evolve into a complete independent navsat system.
It would start with satellites in elliptical and Clarke orbits to give
full capability in specific areas, notably the North Atlantic. It will
also include a capability to warn users of Navstar and Glonass [the Soviet
equivalent] of failures in *their* systems, something that Navstar and
Glonass cannot do! ESA would not operate Navsat in the long run; the
responsibility for operations would be transferred to an international
body like Inmarsat (which is interested). The civilian nature of Navsat
is seen as a strong selling point; the airlines in particular distrust
the US military's control of Navstar, and fear restrictions on access
in time of crisis, or even outright abandonment: "something like this
already is happening with the US Navy's Transit satellite-based
navigation system -- which will be abandoned in the 1990s because they
won't have a use for it any longer". ESA is trying to sort out issues
like Navsat/Navstar/Glonass signal compatibility and the added complexity
of Navsat capability in a Navstar receiver. Navsat will do most of its
work in its ground stations, which will track the satellites and send
position/time information to the satellites for relay to users. This
will also make it practical to detect and turn off a malfunctioning
satellite, and to include data transmissions such as warnings of failures
in Navstar and Glonass.
Bruce Murray criticizes current space-station plans as a "giant WPA in
the sky", says it will be nearly useless unless it is designed for a
role in a manned Mars mission. He also claims that there is no real
scientific interest in a return to the Moon. [Can you say "tunnel vision"?]
Harris Corp. proposes an SDI software-test project involving launch of
six small satellites as a simulation testbed. The idea has support
but is on hold pending funding and launch availability.
TVSat 1 program officials say the satellite is probably a writeoff.
Its stuck solar panel is firmly stuck; attempts to free it with motor
firings failed. (Officials note that it's hard to nudge a 1.2-ton
satellite hard enough to shake a lightweight solar panel much.) Other
methods are being examined, but nobody is optimistic any more, especially
there is still no good idea of the cause of the trouble. The various
tests aimed at figuring out how many clips are holding the panel have not
been conclusive; the satellite was not designed for such measurements,
and the data is down in the noise range of the sensors. However, if
the outer panel is open at all, it's not by much. There is some concern
that the satellite was not designed to stay in this configuration for
any length of time, but overall there doesn't seem to be much of a hurry.
If the stuck array stays stuck, the satellite's receiving antenna can't
fully deploy, making the satellite useless unless it can be tilted to
point the antenna at the ground station; again, people are pessimistic.
TVSat 2, originally meant to be an on-orbit spare, is on schedule for
launch early in 1990.
"Aerospace Forum" piece by James Van Allen, urging "re-balancing" of the
space program. [Actually this one is surprisingly mild for him; maybe
he's realizing that his strident no-manned-spaceflight position is not
popular.]
--
Those who do not understand Unix are | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
condemned to reinvent it, poorly. | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry